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SUMMARY:EESS talk on "Genetic elements in Microorganisms with an Ancient M
 etabolic Pathway"
DTSTART:20251216T121500
DTEND:20251216T131500
DTSTAMP:20260923T140016Z
UID:98c20e97a14fb23e75842aac73b2ab7638f9f4de706a33763d799cb6
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Dr. Marie Schölmerich\, ETH Zürich\nAbstract:\n\n\nMic
 robial communities regulate most of Earth’s methane cycling\, yet the ge
 netic mechanisms behind the processes remain poorly understood. In this ta
 lk\, I will present the discovery of giant extrachromosomal elements terme
 d “Borgs”\, which likely expand the metabolic capacity of their methan
 e-oxidizing archaeal hosts. I will further provide evidence that Borgs may
  in fact represent giant archaeal viruses. I will then describe our projec
 t on pristine peatlands in Sweden\, presenting genome-resolved community p
 rofiles and mobile genetic elements with a focus on methane-cycling consor
 tia across depth gradients. Finally\, I will discuss genetic elements with
 in Borgs and within the genomes of key methanogens\, specifically rapidly 
 evolving tandem repeats\, which we propose are overlooked but important re
 gulators of microbial methane cycling. Together\, these findings identify 
 previously unrecognized genetic drivers within the anaerobic one-carbon cy
 cle with potential consequences for ecosystem-scale methane fluxes.  \n\
 n\n\n\n\nBiography:\n\n\n\nMarie C. Schölmerich joined ETH Zürich in Aug
 ust 2023 as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Environmental Microbiolo
 gy at the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics within the D
 epartment of Environmental Sciences. Born in Berlin\, Germany\, in 1989\, 
 she received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Leipzig University\, Germany\,
  in 2011\, and her M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences in 2013\, and Ph.D. in B
 iology in 2018 from Frankfurt University\, Germany. She was a junior group
  leader at Hamburg University\, Germany\, from 2018 – 2020 and later wen
 t on to become a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley\, CA\, USA\, a positio
 n she held from 2021 to 2023.\n\n
LOCATION:ALP 1 107 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==ALP%201%20107 https://epfl.
 zoom.us/j/69011077410
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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